Technical Field
The subject matter described herein relates to loudspeakers.
Description of Related Art
Loudspeakers (or simply “speakers”) must be placed carefully within a listening environment in order for them to sound good. The higher the frequency of the audio signals to be played back by a loudspeaker, the more directional the loudspeaker becomes; in this context, “directional” means that the audio produced by the loudspeaker sounds different from different directions. Consequently, most loudspeakers are designed to have an axis or cone for ideal listening. This axis or cone must be pointed toward a listener's ideal listening area (e.g., in a home) when placing the loudspeaker. This places a significant constraint on the user's choice of where to place the loudspeaker.
In terms of size, there are essentially two types of loudspeakers: (a) floor-standing loudspeakers that are relatively tall and when placed on the floor, their axis of listening matches roughly the ear height when the user is sitting on a couch; and (b) bookshelf loudspeakers that need to be put on a wall or on a speaker stand so as to match their axis of listening to the ear height of the user. Conventional bookshelf loudspeakers cannot be placed on the ground and be expected to deliver high-quality sound to the listening area of the user.